Sara Dana
Background Design, Concept Art, 2D Animation, 3D Modeling
Sara has a BFA in Animation from Central Michigan University. While she has learned everything from traditional drawing and painting to metal work and ceramics, she currently spends most of her time drawing digitally. She enjoys 2D and 3D animation, as well as concept and environment design.
When she’s not doing art, Sara enjoys reading fantasy novels, writing fiction and poetry, playing horror video games, and watching anime, making fun of romantic comedy movies, and watching reruns of the same five tv shows.
She is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and hopes to get a four-legged friend in the next few months.
About
As an animator, I enjoy making concept artwork for environments and diving into color design. What drew me to focusing on concept art is my love of detail and color. I am majorly inspired by Studio Ghibli films and older 2D animated Disney films. I will never forget the first time I saw Howl’s Moving Castle and how magical but also dark the castle is. I was in awe at the intricate details. The way colors help drive the tone of Ghibli and Disney films has also always stood out to me, and I aim to achieve that in my own work.
Simply, I create because I enjoy it. I look at the world around me and think about how I could incorporate what I’m seeing into future artwork, how I could take a standard building and destroy it in a storm or grow a forest around it. I want to create magic but also meaning.
In 2D, I experiment with different line work styles and how color palettes will change the mood of the scene. For 3D work, I take a sketch and translate it into a 3D model, building the details in as I go, and later create custom textures. I am also practicing character design with a focus on how their color palette will convey their personality and role in the story.